Fran Healy live at The Vogue
There he was: alone and armed with just his guitar. No mic, though it was set up and ready behind him. No band to accompany him. Just unadorned and simply unforgettable.
Fran is the lead singer for my favourite band, Travis. He is also responsible for writing many (if not all) of their songs, many of which are my favourites, so it was a treat to hear a few months back that he was working on a solo album and would stop by Vancouver for a show tonight. Even better was the general admission seating, so my friend Peter (whom I met at my first Travis show a few years ago and told me about this show) and I lined up and got to sit front row, slightly off-centre.
He played a mixture of songs from his upcoming solo album and past Travis albums. It was a great blend and I was happy to hear his new stuff as it didn't venture too far from the sound I love. It was like we were invited to a private, secret show that only a hundred people or so knew about, and that was just the way we liked it.
In between songs, he would share stories about how certain songs came about or what inspired them. He also told us how he got Sir Paul McCartney to play the bass line for one of his new songs -- Fran showed his gratitude by getting his whole family to become vegetarians -- and how he wrote a song so that he could get Neko Case to sing a duet with him.
And he said this all in his Glasgownian accent. I can never get enough of the Scots.
Giosy, it sounds like you had such a wonderful night in a very intimate, unpretentious setting. I'm going to listen to "Why does it always rain on me?" I still remember the first time hearing it--it was while we were waiting for Paolo, and both you and Peter were singing along =)
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